Christians in Middle East foster inter-religious dialogue for peace

["Daphne Martin_Gnanadason" <Daphne.Martin_Gnanadason@wcrc.ch>]

World Communion of Reformed Churches  
News Release 
11 May 2011
 
Christians in Middle East foster inter-religious dialogue for
peace
 
Christians in Lebanon and Syria are concerned about what is
happening between Christians and Muslims in Egypt and its impact
on the region, says a Lebanese Presbyterian educator. 
 
“Stories from Egypt scare us that a focus on religious issues
will create enmity between peoples,” says Najla Kassab who works
with a church-based education programme serving parishes in
Lebanon and Syria. 
 
Kassab believes that violence in Egypt on Saturday – when 12
Christians were killed by Muslims and two churches burned –
raises the need for churches to play a role in reconciliation and
dialogue in the wake of the revolutions that are sweeping
countries in the Middle East. 
 
“We are at a time of questioning how change can happen in our
diverse countries in a healthy way,” Kassab says. “Churches can
help create opportunities for change through dialogue rather than
violence.” 
 
The educator and licensed preacher with the National Evangelical
Synod of Syria and Lebanon was speaking Tuesday in an interview
in Geneva, Switzerland where she is attending meetings of the
Executive Committee of the World Communion of Reformed Churches.
 
On Thursday, May 12 the Maronite Patriarchate in Lebanon is
hosting a dialogue between heads of Christian and Muslim faith
communities in Bkerke near Beirut.  Representatives of churches
and Muslim groups will meet to focus on how religious leaders can
provide positive models for Christian – Muslim relations.
 
Kassab, who is in Syria frequently in her role as Director of
the Christian Education Department of her church, knows churches
are in a position to present a positive image of inter-religious
groups.  
 
“Our church in Lebanon runs schools where most of the students
are Muslims. Christians and Muslims study together. It is a
dialogue of life,” she notes.
 
Now though, the church is afraid of chaos and the possibility
that radical groups will take control in the new political
structures that will emerge. 
 
“Sometimes we turn things upside down but don’t know how to put
them together again,” says Kassab who holds a Masters Degree in
Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary in the United
States.
 
Media images of beautiful young people in the streets
demonstrating for change present a simplistic reading of the
situation, the Lebanese educator believes. 
 
“It is more complex than that. Today many Christians in Egypt
who were demonstrating in the streets with Muslims are asking a
question: is this the democracy we wanted?”
  
WCRC was created in June 2010 through a merger of the World
Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) and the Reformed Ecumenical
Council (REC). Its 230 member churches representing 80 million
Christians are active worldwide in initiatives supporting
economic, climate and gender justice, mission, and cooperation
among Christians of different traditions. 
 
Media Contacts: 
Kristine Greenaway
Office of Communications
Email: kgr@wcrc.ch
tel: +41 (0)22 791 62 43;
fax: +41 (0)22 791 65 05
www.wcrc.ch ( http://www.wcrc.ch/ )